Cool Neighbors

Friday, May 28, 2010

MONO at Daniel Street

If you asked me 5 or 6 years ago what my favorite label was, I would tell you Temporary Residence Ltd without a moments hesitation. They had all the best bands and all the new releases I wanted but could never afford. I mean they had it all: Cerberus Shoal, Explosions in the Sky, Eluvium, and Tarentel, which was my favorite band for a long, long time. Still, one of the best bands on TR was absolutely MONO. Hailing from Japan, they exemplify everything I loved about the genre; the echoing guitar melodies, the long slow builds, and of course the noisy, aggressive, over-the-top choruses. Loud waves of distortion contrasted with sweet, reverb-laden guitar, blasting cymbals; but at the heart of it all, the driving force behind the music is always pure emotion. I guess there's a reason people are always crying at Mono concerts.

Recently, the post-rock thing hasn't quite lived up to what it meant to me back then, but I still listen to all those old classics and try to keep up with the new releases. Admittedly, I've been slacking a bit, but of course I still follow MONO. Last year they released a real masterpiece; for those of you who don't own 2009's amazing double LP Hymn to the Immortal Wind yet, you should really consider picking it up. In addition to that album, while they were touring around last year with a 24-piece orchestra, which was recorded and just released as their newest live album, a 3LP and DVD set titled Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra. I think that they're really coming back into the spotlight again, and the new songs are fantastic.

Next Saturday, they'll be coming to Daniel Street with The Twilight Sad, who I've also been listening to for years. The Twilight Sad are from Scotland, and have released two albums that are very different from one another, the early stuff being more gentle and their newer album Forget the Night Ahead being a much noisier affair. They're now heavier than ever, have very dark lyrics and draw a lot of late 80s shoegaze influence, while still maintaining a bit of a post-rock musical and emotional feel. Vocalist James Graham's meandering Scottish brogue is totally unique and layering this ontop of screaming distortion and krautrock beats makes these guys awesome in my book.